


is this clickbait?

by emmaofmisthaven



Series: Kavinsquad verse [2]
Category: To All the Boys I've Loved Before Series - Jenny Han, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, youtubers au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-07-25 18:03:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16202765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmaofmisthaven/pseuds/emmaofmisthaven
Summary: They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but how much is a video worth?(Peter, LJ, and too many Youtube channels to count.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO EVERYONE AND WELCOME TO MY SECOND CHANNEL!

**SURPRISING MY GIRLFRIEND’S SISTER WITH A SHIBA PUPPY!!**

_ Peter Kavinsky • 3.5M views • 4 days ago _

 

“Hello Catherine,” he greets her the moment she opens the front door, putting the camera in her face to distract her from what is happening in his minivan behind her. 

Thankfully for him, Kitty eats this shit up as the resident extrovert of the Song-Covey household. “Well hello there, Vogue.”

“Are you ready to answer 72 questions?”

“Sure, let’s go!”

Lara Jean was the one to submit the idea, to have an excuse for Kitty to parade in front of the camera without her suspicions being raised. Peter can’t believe it’s working so well – she accepted the idea immediately and even pitched him questions he could ask her, to the point where he actually kinda feel bad about tricking her into believing all of this shit is real. 

Kinda. Not really though. 

“Where are we exactly?”

“This is the house where Lara Jean and I live and work. Pretty, right?”

“Amazing,” he agrees, playing along. “So, what’s your favourite thing about video editing?”

“Having a special folder for bloopers,” she replies with an easy grin. She’s apparently been compiling bloopers about him too, and he’s not exactly looking forward to what she’ll do with the footage. “But mostly the storytelling process. How editing and music can change an entire video.”

“Any interesting projects beside LJ’s cooking videos we should know about?”

“Maaaaybe,” she teases. She sent an application for a film school last week, but the information isn’t public yet, not until she gets an acceptance letter. “I’m working with Chris on her gaming videos, too.”

“Woah, that sounds fun!”

By now they’ve made it to the kitchen, Lara Jean in the right corner of his camera, sitting at the island with her laptop. He winks at her and she grins back. He wonders how long it will take before people comment on that – probably five minutes. 

“Are you ready for a little dare?” he asks, focusing back on Kitty. 

Bless her little kitten heart, she doesn’t notice anything wrong yet, simply offering him and smile and a shrugs as she exclaims, “Sure!”

With the hand not holding the camera, he grabs the small scarf tucked into the back pocket of his jeans and shows it to her. “I need you to lie down on the floor and put that on your eyes.”

She freezes. 

Her face falls. 

“What’s this? David fucking Dobrik?”

Peter can’t help but laugh out loud, especially with how Lara Jean is laughing too now. So much for keeping this video PG, thank you very much Little Covey. 

“What is it? Is it a spider? Is it a snake? Is it a spider?! Cause we found out I’m allergic to spider bites when we were in Korea so–”

“It’s not a spider,” he replies, trying but mostly failing to be serious. She cracks him up so much. “Just cover your eyes, okay?”

“I hate you,” she states coolly, even as she snatches the scarf from him and wraps it around her head. Immediately, Lara Jean dashes outside to help Gabe. “I hate you so fucking much.”

Still, she sits down on the floor of the dining room, arm stubbornly crossed over her chest, and pouts in his general direction, before she lies down. She doesn’t move, only startles a little when the front door slams – well done, guys – but otherwise doesn’t even reach for the piece of fabric above her eyes. 

Gabe shows up with the puppy, the cutest little furball he’s ever seen in his life, all roasted marshmallow levels of adorable. Gabe moves closer to Kitty, whose head moves at the sound. Thankfully, the puppy doesn’t whine. 

“Okay, we’re gonna put it on you so don’t be scared.”

Which is exactly the opposite of what she does, wiggling a little as she gets herself worked up again. “I don’t care that you’re dating my sister, if it’s a snake I’m going to – oh my GOD, PETER, WHAT IS IT?” She breaks into a scream when Gabe drops the puppy on her chest. 

The puppy starts sniffing around, wet nose against her neck, and she yelps again. Even Lara Jean is losing it now, leaning against Peter for support. He doesn’t even think twice about it when he wraps his arm around her shoulders and pulls her closer to him. 

“Okay, open your eyes.”

She all but ripes the scarf from her face, only to freezes at the sight of the puppy’s face so close to her face. It sniffs her a little, then licks her chin, but she’s too shocked to properly react. 

“It’s a puppy,” she says, slowly. 

“She’s about to cry,” Lara Jean whispers, low but now low enough that the camera won’t catch it. “Just watch.”

Kitty is sitting up, puppy now in her arms, and she looks up at Peter with wet eyes. If she starts crying he might do too, and it’s only going to end up messy and overly emotional. 

“Merry Christmas, Little Covey.”

“You got me a puppy?!”

And then, yeah. She’s crying. Big tears and loud sobs, hugging the puppy to her as it licks her face and whines happily at being cuddles. Its little tail won’t stop wiggling, which is the cutest. 

Lara Jean laughs, and it comes out wet too. When he looks down at her, she has tears in her eyes. He kisses her temple without really thinking about it, holding her a little bit closer. 

“Do you like her?” he asks Kitty. 

“It’s a girl?” she asks back, holding the puppy up to check. “This is so much better than a spider!”

 

> **CovinskyIsLove** 5 hours ago
> 
> like if you’re crying
> 
> **View 15 replies v**
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> **HearMeRoar** 3 days ago
> 
> when lj started crying too and peter comforted her i felt that
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> **groffsauce** 2 days ago
> 
> My sister’s boyfriend is a dirtbag who doesn’t even pay for their dates and this motherfucker gave Kitty a puppy? What the shit???
> 
> **View 15 replies v**

  
  


…

 

**QUEER IS THE WORD**

_ Lucas Krapf • 1.8M views • 5 days ago _

 

“So people have been blowing my mentions since last video because of point three seconds of Peter and LJ in the background,” Lucas announces to his camera, one hand holding it while the other rises to rub against his hair. “And people keep asking if they really are that cute all the time. So, here. Look what we have to deal with on a daily basis.”

He’s walking toward the kitchen now, where most of the gang is gathered. Unsurprisingly, Peter and Lara Jean are side by side, bodies glued to each other. It’s nothing unlike what has been going on during the past few months, but Lucas still noticed the slight differences since New Year’s Eve – they’re more comfortable around each other, especially LJ. It’s almost unnoticeable, especially when you don’t know they were faking it before that. But Lucas knows. And he notices.

“Look at that,” he exclaims, camera zooming in on Peter’s hand in the back pocket of LJ’s jeans, like it’s the most natural thing in the world to do. Which, it isn’t. They’re the only two idiots in this world to be that lovely cosy with each other all. the. freaking. time. “What kind of heterosexual nonsense?”

LJ and Peter both turn at the same time, and his camera zooms out and moves up to capture their twin expressions of surprise. Peter’s hand still hasn’t moved, because they’re disgusting like that.

“Who are you calling heterosexual?” Peter asks.

Chris lets out the uglier, loudest cackle in the history of humanity, because that’s just how Chris rolls on a daily basis. Homegirl has no sense of modesty or etiquette, she’s wired like that. And he loves her for it. “Peter Pan!” she exclaims, holding her hand up for Peter to high five.

“Peter Pan!” he replies in the same loud, cheerful voice, hand slapping hers above the kitchen island. He turns back to Lucas then, more serious. “But don’t film my girlfriend’s butt, thanks.”

“Why?” LJ asks, falsely innocent. “It looks great on camera.”

Lucas cuts on Peter’s dumbfounded face and another cackle from Chris.

 

…

 

Calling Chris’s bedroom a “bedroom” really is about semantics. Like, yes there is a single bed in a corner, so technically it qualifies. But Chris’s room is her video games room, first and foremost. Her TV setting takes over most of the space, what with how many consoles she owes. Two full walls are floor-to-ceiling shelves of video games in their boxes, Funko Pops and other geeky paraphernalia. There’s her computer and her gaming chair in a corner. More cameras and recording material than Lucas knows what to do with it. So, really. Not a bedroom.

And the best thing is, she always has snacks for when she’s playing and for when people are playing with her. She’s taken to stocking Pocky boxes for LJ, next to her own gummy bears. Freaking adorable, how close those two girls are now. Like sisters. White and Asian sisters.

They’re playing Mario Kart, and Lucas is just filming, ‘cause he’s bored and he needs content. LJ getting competitive over nothing is always fun, not to mention clickbaity. So yeah, Mario Kart, camera, Japanese snacks. The best of the best.

Chris is getting worked up over the Rainbow Road, like you do, when her phone starts lighting up like a Christmas tree. Which is weird – she’s usually so very good at not having her phone around when she’s playing, because it keeps her focused not to have to worry about her notifications. The only times she purposefully has her phone around is when she’s doing a special Twitch live and she needs to check her donations.

So Lucas’s attention zooms in on her phone, obviously. “Who’s Veronica?” he asks.

It’s an innocent enough question, but Chris tenses and LJ is distracted enough that her Yoshi falls down the Rainbow Road. “Wait,  _ Veronica _ Veronica?  _ RomanticRonny _ Veronica?”

Chris does a very bad job of pretending to be chill, her eyes never leaving the TV screen but her shoulders tense as shit, her knuckles white around her controller. “Yeah, we’re texting,” she replies, fake casual. Damn.

“Didn’t she make a come-out video like, three months ago?” Lucas asks, just to watch her squirm. He can always edit this part out if Chris asks him to, that’s chill. She’s just as open with her sexuality as Peter and Lucas are, but it doesn’t mean he will post about her crush if she doesn’t want him to. Privacy and all that, they’re pretty good at this stuff with each other.

“Did she now?” Chris replies-asks, with a shrug. Bad Acting 101. “Not that it matters or shit.”

“She’s texting again,” Lucas points out, when her phone lights up again.

“How about you shut up, Krapf?”

He only laughs.

 

> **SapphoBitch** 2 hours ago
> 
> is2g if any of you comes with a ‘queer is a slur’ because of the title i’m going to cut a bitch bc Peter identified as pan AND queer in his coming out video and Lucas and Chris are both chill with it too so stfu u ignorant terf-sounding assholes
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> **Song Bakery ✓** 4 days ago
> 
> 7 billion people in the world to choose from and he picked me. Of course I am okay with that aspect of Peter’s identity, why wouldn’t I be?
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> **PizzaSlut** 3 days ago
> 
> we stan one (1) progressive, unproblematic squad
> 
> **View 9 replies v**

 

…

 

**Who knows me better? challenge (boyfriend vs sister)**

_ Song Not-Bakery • 3.7M views • 2 days ago _

 

“Hi everyone and welcome to my second channel!” Lara Jean greets the camera with a little wave. “It was a long time coming, and it’s all because those two right there bullied me into doing it.”

“Kindly,” Peter clarifies. “We bullied her kindly.”

“Cause that makes it so much better,” she tells him, forcing herself not to grin when he wrinkles his nose at her adorably. This man will be her undoing. “Anyway, it’s all Kitty and Peter’s fault and they’re both extra competitive, so what better way that to start this channel than with a competition about me?”

“Which I’m going to win, because I’ve known her the longest,” Kitty chimes in.

“We’ll see about that,” Peter replies, hand already hovering above one of the two call bells Lara Jean bought for the occasion. Peter was playing with it for ten minutes before they even started filming, and she made a mental note to hide them well once they’re done, for her own sake.

“Each question gives you one point,” Lara Jean explains, all business, ignoring how Kitty and Peter are flexing and silently talking shit at each other from across the table. Most competitive people she knows, indeed. “And the winner gets one favour from the loser, as long as it’s decent.”

“Peter buying me Taco Bell every day for a moooonth,” Kitty singsongs.

“And healthy.”

“Peter buying me by Chloe every day for a moooooonth,” Kitty amands.

“Better,” Lara Jean replies, while Peter tries his hardest not to burst into laughter, all tight-lips and puffed cheeks. “Okay, get ready! Question one! What’s my Hogwarts house?”

Kitty hits the bell so fast it flies across the table. “Hufflepuff!”

“Point Covey!” Lara Jean agrees. “Which movie did I quote in my high school yearbook?”

Peter and Kitty share a look, before he tentatively rings the bell. “Amélie?”

“Correct! Point Kavinsky,” she replies, smiling at his preening.

“How do you even  _ know _ that?” Kitty asks him, suspicious. 

“Your dad showed me all your embarrassing childhood pictures,” he replies with an easy shrug. They went to visit two months ago for her dad’s birthday, his official meeting with Peter. Which went really well for the two of them, not so well for Lara Jean when he dad got all the family albums out. She had to steal Peter’s phone from him so he wouldn’t do anything stupid, like share with the world. “You look cute with pigtails, by the way.”

Kitty pokes her tongue out at him.

“What’s my birthday?”

They both attack the bell, but Kitty is faster. “May 15th.”

“Point Covey. What’s my favourite colour?”

Peter is faster. “Blue.” Then, turning to the camera, “And she looks super pretty in blue.”

Lara Jean barely manages to hide her blush behind a laugh as she moves on the the next question. As expected, Kitty and Peter get more and more worked up with each question, yelling their answers and sending the bell flying more than once. She can’t help but laugh when Kitty throws herself above the table to try and steal Peter’s bell, to prevent him from winning. He holds it above his head, too high for her to reach even when she jumps.

They go on like that for half an hour, Lucas keeping track of points behind the camera and holding his laughter back all through filming. Not all heroes wear capes, after all. She’s almost done with her questions when he shows her the mini whiteboard, announcing 12 points each.

“Okay, it’s a tie, so last question to win the game.”

Kitty points to her eyes with two fingers, then to Peter, then to her eyes again. Both their hands hover over the bell, ready to pounce on it. The tension is thick in the room.

“Who’s my dream guy?”

Peter yells the answer before he even hits the bell, “Gilbert Blythe!” Then, ignoring Kitty’s look of pure disbelief and horror, he turns toward the camera with a smirk that shouldn’t be quite as smug as it is, given what he is talking about. “Because he’s smart, and handsome, and loyal, which makes him Lara Jean’s dream Hufflepuff boy. Kavinsky out!”

“Kavinsky win!” she agrees, grabbing his wrist to hold it like he just won a boxe match instead of a little Youtube competition.

Kitty makes a big deal of pouting and folding her hands on her chest, the perfect image of a sulking child. It only makes Peter laugh harder, of course, because he can be a real jerk when he puts his mind to it. Not a mean jerk, but he knows how to push Kitty’s buttons, how to make her snap just enough to make it entertaining to everyone involved, even Kitty.

“So that’s it for today, guys. Check out Peter’s channel and Kitty’s Instagram account, links in the description, and don’t forget to like and subscribe for more videos like this one! Bye bye!”

 

> **CovinskyIsLove** 2 hours ago
> 
> Smart, loyal and handsome? Wonders who that describes perfectly hmm hmmmmmm… Not fooling anyone, LJ!
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> **TeenageNinjaTurtle** 9 hours ago
> 
> Kitty is so fucking hilarious she needs to be in all the vlogs! More Kitty!
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> **MrsKavinsky** 2 days ago
> 
> The Gods of Youtube have listened and given us LJ’s second channel, we are so blessed!
> 
> **View 12 replies v**


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY HERE IT IS! You can stop requesting it in your reviews lmao!
> 
> (Also, one person guessed it correct, but Veronica is the Veronica from Sierra Burgess, because she deserves better friends and also she deserves a cute girlfriend) (May be hinting at other Youtubers in the next outtake? 'Marvel is the most ambitious crossover event in history'? Hold my kombusha!)

**BOYFRIEND DOES MY MAKEUP ft. Peter Kavinsky**

_Song Not-Bakery • 5.6M views • 4 days ago_

 

“Hi everyone and welcome back to my second channel!” she greets the camera the way she usually does. “Today my boyfriend does my makeup and we’re here with Peter who’s, erh. My boyfriend.”

He’s already laughing. “Why do you have to say it so weird?” he teases her, his voice high-pitched from his giggles.

“I don’t know?” she replies in the same tone, looking away from the camera to stare at him. He’s got his bottom lip stuck between his teeth as he looks at her, and she forgets they’re filming, just for a second. And then she snaps out of it, focusing back on the camera. “So, yeah. It’s actually something I jokingly mentioned when Peter and I started filming together, and people have actually been requesting it a lot so…”

Kitty will edit screencaps of comments asking for this very same video in post-prod, she knows, the way she always does when people keep badgering her with the same thing over and over again. That’s how she ended up doing a fridge and pantry tour a few months ago, and a house tour too. People are damn too nosy for their own good.

“So here I am. Making a fool of myself on the Internet.”

She can’t help but laugh at Peter’s comment, just a little. “As opposed to?” she teases, and laughs some more at the way Peter’s nose wrinkles when he makes a face at her. “Anyway, I gave Peter my makeup bag, and he chose a tutorial from RomanticRonny to follow, ‘cause he obviously needs guidelines.”

“Obviously,” he scoffs. A pause. “Yeah, it’s helpful, don’t judge me.”

“Also, if you don’t already know, Veronica is moving to LA very soon and we’re all super excited about it,” Lara Jean adds, with a little wink to the camera. “So, which tutorial did you choose?”

“Well, you’re usually low-key with your makeup, so I picked something a little more bright and colourful for a change. It’s called ‘Faux Freckles and Sunset’,” Peter provides, doing little waves with his fingers to where Kitty will add the thumbnail to the video later.

Lara Jean hides her smirk. “You’re aware eyeshadow is very different on monolids, right?”

Peter pauses, looking back at her, horror on his features. He freezes for a few seconds, before he turns back to the video and pretends to stands up. “And that’s it for today guys, don’t forget to subscribe and…”

“Sit down,” she laughs. “I’ll help you.”

“Well, if you’ll help me…” he grumbles for show, sitting back down. He grabs a brush then, to brandish it in front of the camera. “Anyway, let’s get started!”

Lara Jean presses the play button on the video, already loaded on her laptop in front of them. It opens on Veronica’s final look as she greets her viewers and showcase the makeup tutorial, doing a few close-ups on the faux freckles and the eyeshadow work. It looks simple but beautiful, yet Lara Jean has no doubt Peter will struggle a little bit.

“She’s so pretty,” she can’t help but comment at Veronica’s baby doll face.

“She looks like the chick from Lucifer,” Peter adds.

Her mouth opens a little at the accuracy of his comment. “Oh my god, you’re so right!”

He preens a little, before he focuses back on the eyeshadow palette Veronica showcases on the video. “Hold on, hold on, wait, you don’t do foundation first?”

“No, eyes first.”

“Whoa, okay.” He watches as Veronica applies the first colour to her lids, before he pauses the video. “Okay, let’s try this. We don’t have the same palette but this colour looks close enough so that will do. Close your eyes.”

She’s laughing a little at how serious he is about it, but does as she’s told anyway, closing her eyes and facing him. She didn’t realise how intimate that would be, one of his legs between hers so they can sit close enough to each other, his fingers delicate as he holds her chin. He’s so close she can feel his breath on her mouth, and it only makes her want to kiss him. Which would ruin the shot, but oh well.

He softly applies pigment to her lid, then sits back to look at the result and hum his approval to himself, which makes her smile a little more.

“Don’t do that, it makes your eyes crinkle.”

“Well, excuse me for being happy,” she teases, and laughs harder when he taps her nose with one finger.

But then she sits straighter too, relaxing her features in a neutral expression. She wouldn’t want to make it harder on him, when he’s trying his best to do something decent. He plays and pauses the video a lot, to make sure he follows the instructions as accurately as possible. Eye shadow doesn’t seem to be too much of a disaster, but then he’s swearing a lot when it comes to eyeliner and mascara, giving Kitty a run for her money in blipping it all out.

“Okay, it’s not _too_ bad,” he comments. “Oh she’s doing foundation now, cool.”

“Tell the audience why you chose that tutorial,” she prompts him as she opens her eyes again.

He’s rummaging through the mess of her makeup bag to find her foundation and a brush, before she guides him to the right one and to her beauty blender. “Cause there’s no contouring in this one.”

“Peter is scared of contouring,” she comments for her viewers.

“Am not!” he replies, almost offended. “It’s just a lot. And I like a more natural look on you.” Then, to the camera, “Who needs sharp cheekbones when you’ve got that pretty round face.”

She’s melting, just a little. “Awww, Pete.”

“Like a donut.”

“…And you ruined it.”

Her does The Face at her – when he grins so much his smile is all dimples and his eyes close almost entirely – before he goes back to the foundation. Which is kind of a mess, and she’s trying her best not to burst into laughter when he goes to town on her face with the beauty blender. She isn’t sure how effective it’ll be, cause he’s getting rid of half the product as he goes, but at least he’s having fun.

“I like how none of those brands are Western, by the way,” he comments as he shows her concealer to the camera, two fingers holding the tube with his hand behind it for the autofocus. A real beauty guru through and through.

“Yeah, it’s all Korean,” she grins. She can feel him drawing the triangle of concealer under her eyes, which might actually do a good job of hiding her never-disappearing bags. “When we go there, half the budget is for food, the other half for beauty products.”

He’s back to dabbing with the beauty blender again when he says, “And because people are going to be asking, yeah, we’re planning a trip to Korean next summer.”

She’s smiling now, chin dropping a little to hide her emotions from the camera, to which Peter replies with a large grin of his own, shaking his head a little in a silly way to mimic her and make her smile even more. Which is working, obviously.

(And if they have to cut there because he drops a quick kiss to her lips… Well. Nobody needs to know.)

“Do I need to fill your eyebrows in?” he asks next, and she’s once again stricken by how earnest he sounds.

It took them a few months to get to this video, if only because Peter was quite reluctant to do it – all because of Gen. He’d told Lara Jean that he’d asked Gen to do that kind of video before, once upon a time when they were dating, but she’d outright refused. Stated that he would only mess it up and make her look bad, and it’s not something she wanted for her modelling career. Lara Jean had (silently) called bullshit the moment he’d explained, but she could understand how he was feeling about it.

How he still feels, careful not to mess it up, to do something good so she will be pleased and happy about him. Not for the first time, she’s saddened by how insidious a toxic relationship can be to someone like Peter, too kind and too people-pleasing.

“Only if they look too powdery,” she explains.

He leans in closer, frowning at her eyebrows, before he blows on them softly. It tickles a bit and makes her laugh, to which Peter replies with a smile. “It’s fine. Also, no lipstick, your mouth is fine.”

“Your mouth is fine too.”

He grins. “You’re welcome.” Then he’s grabbing her chin again, his fingers soft against her skin as he turns her head this and that way to check up on his work, before he nods sagely. “Good. Freckles now.”

It goes a little bit faster from there, hand-poking faux freckles on her nose and cheekbones in different eyebrow pencil colours to make them look natural, before he dabs them with a beauty blender. Before she knows it, he’s nodding again and grabbing a round mirror.

“You ready?” he asks, eager and excited.

She loves him so much it hurts.

“Yeah, show me,” she replies, clapping her hands before raising them in front of her mouth.

He flips the mirror over so she can see her reflection, and her mouth opens in surprise.

“Oh my god, Pete,” she whispers as she leans in closer to the mirror.

The blending on her eyelids need a bit of work, and her eyeliner is definitely wonky, but the faux freckles look amazing, and the warm colour palette on her eyes looks amazing. He really did take care of all the details, and so she leans closer to the camera so the audience can look at the results too.

“You like it?” he asks, suddenly shy and nervous.

Her boyfriend. Her beautiful, amazing boyfriend.

“I love it!” she exclaims. “It’s so different, wow! Look at those colours!”

And if many people comment about how he’s blushing and looking at her adoringly, well. It’s nice to brag about how awesome Peter is, once in a while. He deserves it, if anything else.

 

 

 

> **Gabe Rivera** **✓** 2 days ago
> 
> GUYS TONE IT DOWN THERE ARE KIDS WATCHING!!!!!
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> **RomanticRonny** **✓** 1 day ago
> 
> Awwwww you guys! Peter did such a good job! Can’t wait to meet you all next month!
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> **View 51 replies v**
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> **bellyrubs** 2 days ago
> 
> I know we’re all always commenting on the way LJ looks at him in the vlogs but can we talk about how SOFT Peter is around her? How he was delicately holding her face? The compliments all through the video? How pleased he was that she liked the look? We stan one perfect boyfriend.
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> **CovinskyIsLove** 3 days ago
> 
> doctor: you only have 16:47 minutes to live
> 
> me: *clicks on this video*
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> **HairyPouter** 4 days ago
> 
> last time I came this early Gen was still in the vlogs
> 
> **View 8 replies v**


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends and welcome back to my channel!
> 
> I was hoping to have this part uploaded a few days ago, but I just started a new job that is kicking my butt. Teaching evenings classes ain't easy, let me tell you!

**MUKBANG | Q &A WITH LARA JEAN**

_ Peter Kavinsky 2 • 5.6M views • 3 days ago _

 

“Okay, you need to explain the food because even I am confused and I’ve been dating you for a few months.”

He’s never seen so many pastries in his life, which says something when you know he’s dating a professional baker. He’s come to see more cookie than vegetables in her fridges, and she always walks around with a layer of flour on her skin but. Still. That is  _ a lot _ of pastries on the table. 

“So basically,” Lara Jean replies as she walks around the table from where she’s switched the camera on. She waves as it as she sits down, before she goes on, “I always try my recipes a couple of times to perfect them, and then I often have to redo it on camera when I’m filming a video. Which leaves us with a lot of food.”

“An understatement,” Peter chimes in with a critical look at the numerous plates of cookies, muffins and half-cut cakes. 

“I usually give them to local shelters or charities, things like that, so the food doesn’t go to waste. Because we obviously can’t eat everything on our own. But you wanted to do this video, so I kept this week’s pastries for it.”

“It’s Wednesday,” he points out. “You baked all of this in three days.”

Lara Jean shrugs, unapologetic. “I’m a perfectionist.”

Peter can only smile at that because, yes, she is. It’s one of the things he loves best about her, how passionate she is about what she does and what she believes in. It makes her such a talented baker and Youtuber. 

“Anyway. Mukbang!” He grins at her and she smiles back, before he focuses back on the camera. “So we asked you to send some questions in for us, and we’re going to answer them while having a feast so. Enjoy! We sure will!”

Lara Jean laughs a little, hand hovering over the plates and fingers waving, before she settles on a macadamia cookie. “Okay, shoot first.”

He’s faster than she is, shoving half a vanilla muffin in his mouth like the heathen he is, before he takes his phone out to ready the first question from his notes. 

“One of the most requested is about how we met and started dating. Care to explain?”

She nods and puts her cookie down. Although they will never gives the real explanation to the audience – no way in hell – they settled on a cover story early on. It would have come up at some point anyway, so better have all the details picked, just in case. 

“Chris introduces us during a Vidcon party, actually,” Lara Jean starts with the truth. The lie comes next. “We exchanged numbers and started texting and that was it, really. We wanted to see where things would lead us so we took a leap of faith.”

“Which, we know it doesn’t sound terribly romantic,” Peter adds, making her grin. “And believe me, LJ is  _ all _ about the romance. But it worked for us, and it’s the most important part.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she agrees. 

Peter loses himself in her soft eyes for a moment there, forgetting about the world around him, the pastries, the camera rolling. It still takes him by surprise sometimes, how lucky he is to have her in his life. 

He’s pretty sure he would have fallen in love with her eventually, fake relationship or not. He couldn’t stop thinking about her after that one party, and it’s only because her manager contacted his first that he didn’t ask Chris for her number. He’d been debating sending her a DM on Instagram for days when his manager called him. It was meant to be, really. 

“Okay, next question,” she says, shaking her head a little to focus back on the task at her. She’s got her questions written down on a notebook, because she’s a fucking dork. “Well, questions. How does it feel to have such a public relationship and also how do we deal with everyone in the squad involved in our relationship?”

“Lucas uses us for clickbait more than I do,” Peter comments sagely, to which LJ almost chokes on a mouthful of cookie. He smirks a little at the face she pulls, like she’s trying very hard not to burst into laughter in front of the camera. Once he’s certain she’s fine, he turns back to the camera. “I’m probably going to burst a couple of bubbles here, but we don’t actually film each other all day every day. First because that would be waaaaay too much footage to go through, and also because our lives are not  _ that _ interesting all the time. What is a few minutes in the vlog is only about an hour or two of filming per day, really.”

“And also,” LJ adds, now breathing properly again, “we’re all really good at boundaries. Everything you see in our videos, everyone has agreed to share beforehand. So it’s not as if anyone in the squad is over-nosy or anything.”

“Yeah, basically,” Peter agrees. “As for how public our relationship is… Same, to be honest? We decided very early on what we didn’t want to put in the vlogs and what was just for us. Our couple is so much more that what we’re showing you guys. Thankfully.”

“So stop asking for a kiss, it’s not happening.”

“Really?” Peter asks, teasing. 

He leans forward before she can even notice what happens or stop him, planting a loud kiss on her cheek. She complains a little and pushes him away, and she does the thing where she lets her hair fall in front of her face to hide how embarrassed she is. The cutest shit ever. 

“Pete,” she whines a little. He bites down his lip with a goofy smile that will, no doubt, result in a few comments. He’s fine with it. 

And truth is, he’s careful about how touchy-feely he is with Lara Jean in their videos. He knows how important her privacy is to her, and that she doesn’t want to blast their relationship to the world, isn’t comfortable with millions of people witnessing their PDA. Not when they still haven’t been further than heavy petting, not when she still isn’t ready for the next step. And it’s fine, really. Peter would rather she takes her time and be ready than to coax her into something just because he’s horny. He would hate himself so much if that were to happen.

So he hides his smile with another mouthful of muffin and waits for the next question that arrives only a few seconds later.

“Next one is from one SimonSays,” Lara Jean announces. Then, with a little wave to the camera, “Hi Simon!”

Peter gives a two-finger salute to their fellow Youtuber and friend. “Sup, dude?”

“Simon asks if we have any collabs scheduled any time soon, especially ones that involve flying to New York and stuff,” she smiles.

“When are the Streamys again?” he asks, just to be an asshole.

She slaps his shoulder with the back of her hand, just to show he’s indeed being an asshole. Which really isn’t right, especially when it comes to Simon – fellow Youtuber, second nerdiest Hufflepuff he knows and all around amazing dude with an amazing channel and amazing boyfriend. Simon didn’t do anything to deserve Peter’s peacocky attitude. 

“We don’t count being in each other’s videos as collabs since it basically happens every week,” Peter explains, since people often ask about it. “But Ronny has some projects with the girls, as far as I know.”

“She does,” Lara Jean agrees. “Also Dimples and I are in talks about a little something regarding being a woman of colour on the internet. And yeah, Simon is welcomed to LA any time. Heard that, Simon?”

“Bram still owes us a basketball match.”

“He destroyed you last time,” LJ reminds him, so simple and innocent about it that he can only make an offended face at her. 

She grabs a cookie with both hands and takes a nibble, looking so fucking cute that he can’t stay fake-mad at her for more than a few seconds. A power she thankfully doesn’t know she masters to perfection, otherwise he would be in so much more trouble. 

“Anyway,” he says slowly. “Next. Who said ‘I love you’ first?”

He was afraid the question was too personal at first, but the way LJ seems to melt on the spot has him reconsider. He can see in her eyes that she’s thinking about it too, the memory still fresh in both their minds despite it being a few months old now. A perfect moment under the stars, right after New Year’s Eve – the novelty of their relationship had them both giddy all through their stay in the cabin, until he’d taken her to admire the sky at night, one big fluffy blanket around their shoulders and mugs of steaming hot cocoa in hands. It’d seemed like the perfect moment, and it was. 

“He did,” Lara Jean admits, soft and loving. 

“That’s right,” he echoes, preening a little for the camera, pointing to himself with one finger. “Ya boy is proud of his feelings for his lady.”

And then she says, “We stan the destruction of toxic masculinity,” and he bursts into laughter for two full minutes. They’ll have to cut that, so he might as well kiss her too while he’s at it and get rid of all the footage in editing.

“Will Lara Jean ever move in the vlog house?” she reads, then immediately shakes her head. And keeps shaking it. For a whole thirty seconds. Just in case it wasn’t clear enough. 

Any other dude would take that as rejection or a punch to his ego. Not Peter. Because he knows the vlog house is a whole fucking lot – more like some frat house that anything else, where they can do the craziest shit without a care in the world. And Lara Jean, she doesn’t entirely belongs in that kind of a place. She needs peace and quiet. A comfy armchair where to read. Silence.

It’s too early for any talks of moving in together but. He’s thought about it. Of course he has, he’s thought about a whole lot of things since he admitted to himself that she’s The One, capital letters and all. 

So when – when, not if – they move in together, it will be at Lara Jean’s house. Or perhaps they can leave it to Kitty and find a place of their own instead. It doesn’t matter much to him. But it will be a place of their own, somewhere just for the two of them. And it will be perfect. 

“To be fair, our kitchen is shit,” he comments. 

LJ almost looks relieved at his words. “You have an electric oven. That’s barbaric.”

“Speaking of which,” he adds and grabs his phone once more to read the next question, “Has Peter ever tried to cook Korean food for you?”

She laughs so loudly she chokes on a cookie and sputters a little, then laughs and laughs and laughs. 

Yes, he decides with a grin of his own, it’ll be perfect. 

 

> **ItsNeverBro** 3 days ago
> 
> WAIT LJ IS FRIENDS WITH DIMPLES SHAH??? HOW IS THAT BRAND NEW INFORMATION TO ME?????
> 
> **View 8 replies v**
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>  
> 
> **CovinskyIsLove** 3 days ago
> 
> LA’s hottest vlog squad! This place has everything! Adorable relationships! Unexpected collabs! Female solidarity! Men in tune with their feelings! Lots of cookies!
> 
> **View 15 replies v**
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>  
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> **SimonSays** **✓** 2 days ago
> 
> Seriously? Right in front of my salad? (How about you come to NY instead, huh?)
> 
> **View 27 replies v**
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>  
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> **PizzaParty** 1 day ago
> 
> we stan one unproblematic youtube couple. diza who? jerika who? i don’t know them
> 
> **View 14 replies v**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always please pleas let me know what you think in the comments, I'm living for all your lovely feedback!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (definitely clickbait)

**we’re no longer dating**

_ Peter Kavinsky 2 • 6.9M views • 3 days ago _

 

“So…” Peter starts as he comes to sit next to her on one of the couches. Lucas and Gabe share the second couch, while Chris sits on the floor as is her habit. John stands in a corner, leaning against the wall. “We wanted everyone to know it first, before rumours start spreading.”

LJ bites down on her lip as she looks down to her lap, both hands clasped together between her thighs. She doesn’t particularly like when Peter’s tone gets so serious, too far away from his usual excited pitch. It doesn’t suit him, even if it suits the situation at hand.

“What?” Chris jokes, almost nervously. “Did you kill someone?”

“Something like this,” LJ agrees with a nod, still not looking up at her friend.

She feels the pressure of Peter’s hand on her shoulder, just for a moment, before he lets go of her with a sigh. “Thing is… Lara Jean and I decided to stop dating.”

His confession is met with stunned silence from all their friends. LJ chances a glance at them from behind her hair; Chris just staring at them with her mouth wide open, Lucas’ hand gripping her shoulder while his other hand is pressed to his mouth. Gabe just staring, his lips so tight his mouth disappears almost entirely. She doesn’t dare look John Ambrose’s way.

“What. The. Fuck,” Chris pronounces slowly, stopping on each word as her eyes move between Peter and LJ.

Peter carries on like a champ. “We had a long discussion about it, about the future and what we wanted in life and… well, we came to some conclusions, and we decided we couldn’t keep going on like this and…”

Slowly, deliberately, LJ raises one hand to grab some of her hair and tug it behind her ear. Much to her surprise, Gabe is the first one to react, letting out a loud gasp that catches the attention of the others.

“Oh you FUCKING ASSHOLES!” Chris screams, jumping to her feet.

“I BELIEVED YOU, YOU MORONS!” Lucas agrees.

Chris is already pouncing on LJ, snatching her hand with such strength that it will probably leave a bruise. She dangles LJ’s hand in front of Peter’s face, as if he wasn’t already aware of the ring on her fourth finger. As if he didn’t put it here himself a few days ago.

LJ’s cheeks already hurt from grinning too much at her friends’ reactions, all of them bursting into yells and screams and a hundred questions. Chris’s face is so close to her ring it would only need a flick of the wrist to slap her, not that LJ will do it. 

Gabe is jumping like an excited puppy.

And Lucas looks back at John Ambrose suspiciously. “Why aren’t  _ you _ reacting?”

John Ambrose simply shrugs, the picture of innocence, as he leans away from the wall and walks toward them. “I can’t believe you all bought it.”

“You knew,” Gabe states, squinting his eyes at him.

Chris gasps at LJ. “John knew and you didn’t tell me? Friendship over.”

LJ can only laugh then, leaning against Peter a little. He wraps his arm around her waist, pulling her to his chest in an almost protective gesture. Her fiancé. She still can’t entirely believe it, has to pinch her arm or look down at her hand to remember this is all real.

“No regret,” Lj grins at her best friend, who replies with a huff.

“Now, that’s great and all, I’m happy for you, yaddy yadda,” Gabe says next. “But the real question is, where did you plant the camera for that stunt?”

Peter points to it, hidden among the books on the selves.

“Nice,” Lucas agrees, jogging toward the shelves to grab the camera. “Best clickbait ever.”

 

…

 

“I told you I need a twenty-second notice before you put a camera in my face,” John deadpans, trying and failing at pushing Peter’s camera away. Peter just keeps grinning at him like the fool he most likely is, and his best friend notices straight away. “What now?”

“I need your help with something.”

John’s features are unamused at best. It’s been quite the eventful month already, what with it being summer and thus a perfect time to go on tour. Stopping only a day or two in each city, being on scene, signing, taking pictures, meeting fan. All amazing, both on paper and in reality, but exhausting too. 

They’re all on the verge of sleep deprivation, and John is running in circles about not being able to produce quality content or to be able to film in his usual studio. Saying that he’s been on edge these past few weeks is a bit of an understatement. He might burn out before they make it to Vidcon.

“What is it, Peter?” he sighs, already tired. Still, he’s standing up from his hotel bed and looking for his phone and keys already, like the good bro he is.

Peter only grins at him, bouncing on the balls of his feet a little. Thankfully he has a stabilizer not to make his camera all shaky. “We’re going shopping.”

John stops mid-reaching for his phone and turns back to Peter. “We’re not going to Target just so you can have content. You know we’re banned for life.”

Do a little harmless prank and Target will blow it out of proportions. They didn’t even have to get the firefighters involved, and yet Target forbad them from ever coming back, and especially coming back with a camera. Now they have to send LJ every time they need cheap snacks, and she’s not particularly happy about it.

“We’re not going to Target,” Peter reassures his friend. “But we  _ are _ going to the mall…”

“I’m tired already…”

“Cause I need help ring shopping.”

John freezes. Properly freezes in the middle of putting his jacket on, staring at Peter with his mouth agape and his eyes widening. Which, okay. Probably not the best way to announce to your best friend that you want to propose to the girl of your dreams but. That’s Peter for you.

“Dude…” John starts, slow and careful.

“I know.”

“She’s going to freak out!”

“I know!”

John pauses again, just long enough to shrug his jacket on, before he tilts his head to the side. “Are you going to propose at Vidcon, like the romantic fool you are?”

Peter rolls his eyes so much he’s afraid they’ll get stuck at the back of his head. He hates how much of an easy read he is for his best friend, how nothing escapes John. Which is exactly why he’s telling him in the first place -- to have someone to freak out to before he actually asks LJ to marry him, to have someone he can turn to not to ruin the surprise.

Still, John keeps it way too real.

“Shut up. She’ll love it.”

“I know she will, that’s the worst part. You’re both romantic fools.”

 

…

 

“So real talk, guys,” Peter announces to his camera. It’s propped up on a few books on his desk, because apparently he’s too much of a cheap fuck to buy a new tripod these days. “We wanted to share the news with you, because it’s super important to us. But also, you know how we are with our privacy, especially when it comes to my relationship with LJ, so I hope nobody will make it weird or anything. Please, please, don’t make it weird. Don’t ask questions about how I proposed or anything like that, don’t ask LJ to post pictures of the ring, don’t… Just let us have this, okay? We’ll share what we want to share when we want to share it, so it’d be extra nice of you to understand that. Also, don’t bombard our PO box with gifts? If you want to do something nice for our engagement, I’ve put a list of charities we endorse in the comment sections, go and donate money to their cause instead of blowing it on gifts. That’s seriously the best gif you could give us. Anyway, see you guys on Monday’s vlog!”

 

> **The John Ambrose Show** **✓** 3 days ago
> 
> Like if you had a mini heart attack!
> 
> **View 37 replies v**
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>  
> 
> **CovinskyIsLove** 3 days ago
> 
> HOLY MOLY CLICKBAIT I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU BUT SO FURIOUS AT THE SAME TIME
> 
> **View 15 replies v**
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>  
> 
> **TurtlesNinjaMutantTeenage** 2 days ago
> 
> Remember two years ago when LJ was like .3sec in the vlog for the first time and we all freaked out? How far they’ve gone since then? And now they’re getting fucking married? Damn, we stand Youtube royalty.
> 
> **View 27 replies v**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone prompted me with "which one would prank the other about a break up" to which the answer very obviously was "they would both prank everyone else". Duh.
> 
> Don't forget to check the new instalment in the Kavinsquad verse, all about scenes not shown on camera. (This AU is getting out of hands!)


	5. Chapter 5

**LARA JEAN DID WHAT?!**

_ Peter Kavinsky • 5.3M views • 3 days ago _

 

Freeze frame of Lara Jean in front of the camera, very obviously in the vlog house’s kitchen, very obviously wearing a hoodie from John’s latest merch line, her hair in a lazy ponytail. Smiling. Happy. 

Peter’s voice-over. “Okay guys, here’s the thing. LJ stole my camera several times this weekend, which is cool. I wasn’t really planning on filming anything since Owen is visiting for a few days. But turns out my girlfriend is better at keeping up with my vlogs than I am. So here goes nothing, all filmed by her.” Pause. “Also doesn’t she look super cute here, like wow?”

 

…

 

“Hi guys!” she grins and waves at the camera. It feels a little bit weird, stealing Peter’s camera – not her usual setting, having to prop it up on something because it’s too heavy for her to hold in front of her. She understands Peter’s well-shaped arms now. “So as you might know from Instagram, Owen flew all the way from Oregon to spend spring break with us, which is exciting. And I know a lot of you are curious about what happens at the house when we’re not filming or editing, so I’d show you around to give you an idea. Follow me!”

She grabs the camera, rather ungratefully may she add. Nothing they can’t edit out at some point though, she’s fine. 

She holds the camera in front of her as she moves from the kitchen to the living room. Both Kavinsky boys and John are sitting around the coffee table, all of them wearing headsets. Peter sits on the floor, laptop on the table. John has it on his lap. Owen is actually lying down on his stomach, laptop in front of him. 

“Sundance Kid coming from south,” John announces into his microphone, “get ready, gentlemen.”

Even from where she stands a few feet away from them, Lara Jean can hear a cry of complain coming out of the headphones. 

“And lady,” John corrects with a grin. 

Lara Jean turns the camera toward her face, eyebrows rising and eyes widening a bit even as she shakes her head a little. Then she walks down the corridor leading to the different bedrooms. 

The same scene welcomes her in Chris’s room, the other girl sitting at her desk and slamming her keyboard like there’s no tomorrow. “Can you guys give me a hand or are you all circlejerking right now?”

Gabe’s bedroom – same old story. Gave at his desk, Lucas sitting on the floor. Stream of curses coming out of Gabe’s mouth as he attacks his laptop with more strength than is properly allowed, or healthy. 

Lara Jean shakes her head, before she goes back to the living room. Peter is swearing too right now, which is proof enough that Chris wasn’t entirely wrong in her colourful way of criticising the team. 

He doesn’t even react when Lara Jean sits next to him on the floor to film his screen. 

“So yeah,” she comments lightly. “Overwatch tournaments. Every. Single. Evening. Now you know.”

 

…

 

Not many people know Peter used to be on his way to become a lacrosse star, before he made it on the internet. It’s not something he talks about a lot, but Lara Jean has seen a couple of pictures and he still has his stick, somewhere at the back of the garage. 

It’s not that he’s ashamed of his past as a jock or anything – although it is funny to contrast that to his current reputation – but it’s definitely something he’s left behind a long time ago. So it really does come as a surprise when he decides to challenge some viewers to a friendly lacrosse match. 

The pick one park down near Venice Beach, and drive there. Which of course means Kitty and Chris jump in John’s convertible Mustang while everyone else piles up in Peter’s car, but that’s how it usually works. It’s a pretty damn nice car, after all.

The boys are all playing, but habit has them all bringing their cameras anyway. Lara Jean holds Peter’s, while Chris looks straight up like a TMZ pap with three different cameras around her neck, on top of hers she’s holding. Super ridiculous.

The whole match in itself is a mess too – barely anyone beside Peter know what they’re doing, and people are here to meet the guys more than they’re here to play. But, all in all, they have fun. Peter even somehow managed to explain the basic rules of the game, and it starts looking like some kind of organised mess after a while. Or, at least, like something is definitely happening.

And then they take a break between matches, Peter jogging toward her with a grin on his face. She’s been filming the whole thing, of course, so she points the camera at him as he makes his way toward her.

“And here we have him, ladies and gentlemen. Peter Kavinsky, all hot and bothered.”

His grin widens, as it always does when she lets a compliment slip. He’s so eager for them, a little too vain for his own good. “Who you calling hot, Covey?” he asks jokingly.

But he also grabs the bottom of his shirt to wipe it against his face, showing a good portion of his chest in the process, so. Very deliberate. Her cocky, beautiful boyfriend.

“Jesus, Kavinsky,” Chris interjects. “There’s kids around.”

He lets go of the fabric and offers her the fakest innocent smile in the history of humanity. Like he’s absolutely unaware that half a dozen preteen girls are drooling over him right now, phones at the ready. It’s probably all over Instagram and Snapchat already. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Chris makes a face, about to reply, when Gabe calls Peter’s name to get him back in the game. He turns around and raises one hand, which leave Lara Jean the pleasure of moving the camera down his body to land straight on his butt. Which looks wonders in those shorts, may she add. “Okay, now jog away. Slowly.”

He barks a laugh. “Get your mind out of the gutter, baby girl.”

Still, there’s definitely an unusual sway to his hips as he runs back toward the other guys.

 

…

 

Freeze frame of Owen and Lara Jean, sitting on a couch. The background makes it obvious it is the same couch you can see behind John in each of his videos, with the blue wall and random decorations on the walls.

Peter’s voice-over. “Oh yeah and John stole my camera too, because he’s a traitor.”

 

…

 

“So Lara Jean,” John announces as he sits on his coffee table, right in front of her. She looks fairly nervous, eyes glancing between him and Owen, which is cute. “I’ve known Kavinsky since I was six. Owen has known him for too long, bless his soul. Any tea you want on your boyfriend, it’s now or never.”

Her mouth opens, eyes a little wider. It’s so very obvious she didn’t expect this but, as always with her since she’s gotten used of the squad’s nonsense, she falls back on her feet quickly enough. “Did you guys also notice he always grabs the last slice of pizza without asking if anyone else wants it?”

Owen bursts into laughter, the noise loud and sharp, and John has to bite down on his lip not to laugh too. He has no idea where Chris found her, how they met, but he’s so glad it happens. She’s such a nice addition to their group, her wit and timing making her so funny all the time.

“He so does!” Owen agrees, never the last one to get dirt on his brother.

“He also never apologises when he burps,” John adds. “Which is rude, I keep telling him that.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed that too,” Lara Jea nods, almost solemnly, like someone who’s seen too much in life. See? A born comedian. She hesitates, just for a moment, biting down on her lip as she looks at her lip, before she asks, “Was he always popular at school?”

John shares a meaningful look with John above the camera, the both of them barely able to repress a laugh. Of course Lara Jean would ask such a thing. Of course they have all the dirt on that particular topic, like the asshole they most definitely are.

“He was so ridiculously clueless,” John explains. “Like, lots of people were into him, but he was too busy trying to get Gen that he barely ever realised all those other people wanted to date him and were much better options. He even joined the school choir to impress her, and failed miserably.”

Owen snorts a laugh, so John turns toward him. The boy has always been a bit camera-shy, but it’s gotten better with the years, especially since he got into college. Especially when it comes to humiliate his brother on the internet. “Remember that one time he totally made up a girl to pretend he had game?”

“Oh, yeah! What was her name? Amelia?”

“Angela?”

“Angelina!” John pause then, “Wait, she wasn’t real?”

“Oh, she was real alright. That kiss though…” Owen finishes his sentence with a cringey face that makes Lara Jean laugh, although she quickly hides it behind a cough. It’s so cute, how unwilling she is to make fun of Peter when he’s not here, even when she’s the most savage of them all when she puts her mind to it.

“Also, he was the last one in our year to go through puberty. His voice was so ridiculously high for months after everyone else’s had broken, and he was too tiny.”

“That’s cute, though,” Lara Jean comments.

John points the camera back on her, just because he knows people will eat that up, that damn earnest look on her face and that small smile. How his best friend got so lucky finding himself the perfect girl, John will never understand.

“You’re definitely biased,” John replies.

She only shrugs, smiling some more.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taking a little break from all the Covinsky to go more in depth about one of my fav characters.
> 
> Also, I forgot to mention it until now, but all the characters/channels are inspired by real youtubers, so credit where credit is due:  
> Peter: David Dobrik  
> Lara Jean: Rosanna Pansino  
> John Ambrose: The Philip DeFranco Show (main), Brando Calvillo (secondary)  
> Lucas: Joey Graceffa/DangMattSmith  
> Gabe: King Russell  
> Chris: Markiplier (I don't know anything about gaming tbh)

**A discussion with Chris about being a lesbian gamer**

_ The John Ambrose AFTER Show • 2.3M views • 5 days ago _

 

“Here she is,” John grins as Chris enters his car. If it were a real show, or carpool karaoke, that’s when the applause track would start. “How are you?”

“Fine, fine,” Chris replies, even though she looks a tad nervous. A first for her, obviously. “Where are you taking me?”

“Chipotle?” She nods her agreement, so he turns on the ignition and starts driving. The closest Chipotle is about twenty minutes away from where they live, perfect timing for his ‘A conversation with’ segment. “So… not many people know how you actually joined the squad.”

“You all just woke up one day and I was here,” she smiles, sardonic. “Obviously we go like, way back.”

“Greenpoint, Oregon,” John grins. 

“Some people think we’ve always been friends or something, but it’s so far from the truth. Like yeah we were all in the same town and in the same year at school, but we were not in the same circles.”

“Did you even  _ have _ a circle?”

“A one-person circle is still a circle,” she shots back, and he snorts. “You guys left for LA when we were nineteen, and Gen invited Peter to our Christmas party that year, which is how I properly met him. We talked about the YouTube thing for a while but I thought that was it. And then a few days later he followed me on Twitter and sent me a DM.”

“Which must have been very polite and not creepy at all.”

“Yeah, right,” she chuckles. “‘I’ve watched your videos and I like what you do, how about you come live with us cause you have potential’ basically was his first message. I legit asked him if he was serious or just wanted to harvest my organs.”

“And he was serious, because he’s Peter,” John grins. “He hurt his head a lot as a child and it shows.”

“Oh yeah, def. So I very much told him to get lost at first, because I’m not crazy. But he’s a stubborn asshole and wouldn’t let go, so he kept replying. We texted back and forth for about three months before I caved in and packed all my stuff.”

“What made you change your mind in the end?”

“He promised I wouldn’t have to pay for anything until I was making enough money out of my channel, which I didn’t at the time. I was working at Walmart back then, to help my parents with the bills.”

“You, working in customer service?  _ You?!” _

“I know, right?” she laughs. “I was terrible at it. And it barely left me any time to work on my channel. Like, if you look back on my very first videos, it just looks like some Five Nights at Freddy’s ASMR shit because I had to shoot my videos in the middle of the night while my brother was sleeping on the other side of the room. It was a mess.”

“Not professional looking, you mean?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“So Peter basically bribed you to join the squad.”

“Can you blame me for saying yes though?” she laughs. “I mean, it wasn’t just the money thing. He posted his coming-out video during that time, and I watched your videos, and Lucas’s too. And I was like, yes, that’s the kind of friends I need in my life.”

“You never really talk about your life before the squad, or even your friends outside of the squad beside Lara Jean. Is that something you’ve been struggling with?”

He’s making a turn left to join the highway, so he misses the look Chris offers him. Which might be for the best, what with how personal his questions are getting. He didn’t prep her before, so their talk wouldn’t feel too rehearsed and planned in advance, but maybe he should have told her the basics of what he would ask her. The last thing he wants is to make her uncomfortable, especially with how little she usually shares in her videos.

“I mean, yeah in a way,” she answers after a few tense seconds. “I think it’s something most gamers struggle with, because it’s such a competitive and individual market. And I’m in this weird position, you know, as a lesbian gamer. Because most gamer guys see me as nothing but meat because I’m a woman, and as a challenge because I’m gay. And lots of game girls were cold to me, because me being nice to them immediately means I’m flirting and it’s making them uncomfortable, you know?” He lets her thinking her words through, doesn’t add anything before she speaks again. “And it’s like, I don’t typically look like a gamer girl. I totally understand why they present themselves a certain way, because it’s such a saturated genre as it is and, yeah, showing the goods definitely helps with views and with building an audience. But the male gaze makes me so uncomfortable, and I don’t want to be known as yet another girl showing her boobs on camera. Again, nothing wrong against that, but it’s just not who I am or who I want to be.”

“Yeah, I totally get that. You want your audience to care about your gameplay, not your appearance, it totally makes sense. Is that why you get along so well with Lara Jean? Because she feels the same way about her looks on camera?”

“Oh, definitely. And it’s funny, you know, because on paper we have about nothing in common. I can’t bake to save my life, and she’d basically never held a controller before meeting me. Our personalities are so polar-opposite too. But we immediately clicked on a very deep level, because we’ve got the same work ethics and the same views of the job, and everything. Also, may I add? The girl has mad fashion tastes, and she knows how to use it. She gets so many sponsors from clothing brands even though she’s not a beauty vlogger. That’s goals.”

“She’s the best person I know,” John agrees without missing a beat. “When we did that series of videos with my grandma? Damn, she was the best! So patient and understanding, especially when you know how over-the-top Stormy can be. But LJ didn’t care about Stormy’s behaviour or anything, she took everything in stride.”

“Kavinsky is one lucky bastard… Shit, can I swear on your channel?”

He bursts into laughter. “I’ll just bleep it out.”

“Thanks. Oh, Wendy’s!” she exclaims, pointing at the building to their left. “Let’s stop for Frosties!”

“You’re the worst,” he comments, but turns anyway. There was a time when John used to eat healthily, but that was before. Now he has Seamless as his most-used app, and LJ’s baking goods to keep them all busy for days. Thank god for Gabe dragging them all to the gym every morning to stay in shape.

The girl at the drive-thru recognises them and geeks out a bit, which is always nice. They share a few pleasantries before they’re back on the road, twin chocolate Frosties in hands. 

“So… as an openly gay girl in a very masculine world, do you ever feel like you’re responsible for representing a minority?”

She slurps at her Frosty loudly for a few moments, a pensive look on her face. “You know, at first I didn’t care like, at all. I just wanted to live my life and be left alone to do my thing. I didn’t even want to make a coming-out video at first because I didn’t see the point. It was never a secret or anything, but I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it either. But living with Peter and Lucas, and now Gabe and LJ, and seeing how proud they are of their identity and their heritage and all that… Yeah, it helped a lot. I still don’t think me just existing is that groundbreaking but it’s nice when people come to me and tell me I helped them figure out their sexuality or that they look up to me or shit. Especially with how long it took me to admit I wasn’t straight…”

“Meanwhile, I’m the squad’s token white straight guy,” John replies, to which Chris laughs out loud. “Do you mind talking about coming out?”

“I mean, there’s nothing I can say that isn’t already in my coming-out video but… It was harsh. And such a long process. Like I remember in high school when all the girls were in love with you, or Peter, or both, and I was just like, what’s the deal?” John barks a laugh at her deadpan delivery, and shakes his head a little. “But even then, with those weird feelings of not really understanding the appeal of boys, it took me years to accept that I was into girls and to truly come to terms with it. Society really doesn’t make it easy on us.”

John nods, even though he knows this is something he will never truly understand. He may have been joking with the token white boy thing, but he’s privileged like that; there are some things he will never fully grasps, some concepts that will forever be a mystery to him. Even witnessing Peter coming to terms with his own sexuality when they were teenagers was out of his reach of expertise. Doesn’t mean he can’t sympathise with his friends, though.

“Is it okay if we talk about Veronica?” he asks next, because it seems as good a moment as ever to talk about her.

Chris tenses, just a little. Less than she would have two months ago. “What about her?” she asks back, but it’s less confrontational and defensive than it could have been in her mouth.

John gives her a knowing glance and smirk. “I don’t know, maybe the fact that she’s moving to LA next month?” She’s smiling now, that stupid dopey smile Peter has too when someone mentions LJ. His friends in love are the worst, and it makes it the best. “Did you ever explain people how you two met? Cause I’m not even sure  _ I _ know the full story.”

“It started with Simon, actually. When the whole revenge porn thing happened, he reached out to her because, obviously, he’d gone through the same kind of shit and he wanted to make sure she was okay. That’s how they became friends. And then she came out, and they talked about it some more, but. You know, being a gay man and being a gay woman is such a different experience. People like to put us in the same box, for very obvious reasons, but there are some things that are just so, so different. And Veronica needed that, someone she could relate to more. So Simon contacted me, asked me if I was down to talk to her and to give her my number. And that was it, really. We haven’t stopped texting since.”

“That’s nice, having someone. I think that’s why our squad is so drama-free actually, compared to other groups out there. We really do all care about each other, and it shows, and people can feel it when they watch the vlogs.”

“Yeah, definitely. It’s more a family, really. Who just so happen to film each other all the time.”

John is grinning now, driving through Chipotle’s drive-thru.

A nice conclusion to their discussion.

 

> **bellyrubs** 3 days ago
> 
> John doesn’t get enough praise for all the work he’s doing for his videos. His content is so high quality all the time, with the way he does his research and interview people, it’s so natural. Hard to remember he doesn’t actually have a degree in journalism, because he does it like a pro!
> 
> **View 13 replies v**
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> **SapphoBitch** 4 days ago
> 
> the rawest conversation ever. i feel like we learnt so much about chris is such a short time. beautiful, john is so talented with that format
> 
> **View 7 replies v**
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> **CovinskyIsLove** 2 days ago
> 
> so is no one going to mention that Peter collects youtubers like pokemons? no? just me?
> 
> **View 12 replies v**


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY BEGINNING OF THE SHOOTING OF TATBILB2, GUYS!!!!
> 
> Prayer circle for Jordan to stay and John Ambrose not to be recast!

**GOING BACK TO HIGH SCHOOL WITH MY GIRLFRIEND**

_ Peter Kavinsky  _ _ • 5.8M views • 3 days ago _

 

A middle-aged woman sits behind a desk, round glasses on the tip of her nose as she types away on a computer who was already old a decade ago. John skips toward her, shit-eating grin on his face and hands clasped behind his back. She looks up at him, then at Peter and Chris behind him, and lets out a long, tired sigh.

“Gooood morning, Ms Brown,” John singsongs. Behind the camera, Peter snorts softly.

“How many times will I have to tell you, Mister McClaren. This school is staff and students only, of which you are neither.”

“At least one more time? We won’t be long, I promise.” 

There is something to be said about how smooth John is in that kind of situation, holding the box of chocolates he was hiding behind his back with a smile that is now downright charming. The old secretary is unimpressed, of course, raising an eyebrow at the obvious bribe. It doesn’t stop her from taking the chocolates and hiding them under her desk, though.

“You have one hour.”

“Thanks, Ms Brown!”

“You’re the best, Ms Brown!” Chris chimes in.

“Now go away before I remember how many detentions you never attended.”

Chris needs little more to scurry away, John following close with one last grin at their old secretary. She rolls her eyes and shakes her head at him, but the hint of a smile curls up the corners of her lips. That is, until she turns back to Peter.

“What else do you need, Mister Kazinsky?”

Behind the camera, his shit-eating grin is far less adorable and convincing than John’s, but at least he gets some points for trying. With one arm around LJ’s waist, he moves closer to the secretary’s desk. “Ms Brown, this is my girlfriend, Lara Jean.”

“I know,” the woman replies, deadpan. At both their stunned faces, she adds, “My granddaughter got me your book for Christmas. Far more useful than whatever this loser does on the daily with his camera.”

Said camera LJ grabs from Peter, just to capture the utter look of surprise and betrayal on his face.

 

…

 

“Model UN Champion three years in a row has to be the nerdiest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” LJ states, looking at the medals on the other side of the glass window. John’s name is engraved in all three of them in its full glory - John Ambrose McClaren III - which makes it all the more ridiculous.

“I’ll have you know both Barack Obama and Samuel L. Jackson were Model UN students in high school. Does that make them nerdy too?”

“Yes,” Chris replies without blinking.

LJ smiles. “Which country were you?”

“Macedonia,” he replies, somewhat pitifully. “I looked great in a suit, though!”

Peter scoffs. “You look great in everything, that doesn’t count.” Then, after a beat,  _ “Nerd.” _

John glares at him through the camera, even though it doesn’t carry that much heat. The two of them are very bad at fake outrage, after all. “Someone’s bitter.”

Peter takes the bait. Hook, line, and sinker. “Excuse me? What is that? What is  _ that?” _

He gives his camera to LJ before he skips-runs down the corridor a bit, from the academic trophies to the sport ones. In front of one particular display, he opens his arms with a slow, quiet ‘tadaaaaa’, along with some spirit fingers.

LJ zooms in on the display, shiny cups from a Lacrosse State championship, and the framed picture next to it. A tiny, grinning teen Peter is on the first row, holding the cup, cheeks full of mud and sweat. He looks cute, but that says nothing -- LJ always thinks he looks cute, no matter what.

“Yeah, but do you have you full entire name on the cup?” John teases back. “I think the fuck not.”

“At least I’m not a big fucking nerd.”

 

…

 

“Oh look,” LJ breathes out softly, grabbing his arm. 

Peter films away from his old locker - the carved P+G fading under layers of paint but still present - to look where she’s pointing.

“The library!”

His laugh echoes through the empty corridors.

 

…

 

Chris somehow finds herself with Peter’s camera, which is ridiculous. Nobody, ever, should trust her with such expensive equipment, but that’s on Peter and she’s not going to point out the obvious. Not when she’s sitting on the bleachers with John, looking down at Peter and LJ from across the pitch.

They sits at one of the tables in Lovers’ Corner, that little patch of grass between the admin building and the football pitch where people go to have a romantic moment instead of making out under the bleachers or behind the art building. Back in the day, Peter and Gen were more of a behind-the-art-building couple, but that’s none of her business.

Peter sits on the wooden bench with his back against the table, LJ sideway next to him. It’s too far to really notice details, but Chris is pretty sure LJ’s leg rests above Peter’s. That’s some disgustingly cute couple thing they do all the time.

“Do you ever wonder?” John starts. Chris looks away from her best friends to stare at him, oblivious to the end of his question. It could go in so many directions. “What would have happened, if Lara Jean went to our school?”

John is the only one who still calls her by her full name, the same way LJ still calls him John Ambrose. It’s cute too, in its own way.

“You mean…”

They don’t need to elaborate on what he means. They both know. Would Peter still have gone crazy for Gen, if LJ had been in the picture? Would he have left Gen walk all over him, when he had much better options? Would it have changed anything at all?

“I don’t know, man,” Chris answers sincerely. “All I know is high school would have been less fucking lonely if she’s been my friend.”

“Homemade cookies for snacks every day.”

“Oh, word.”

In the distance, Peter leans down to kiss LJ.

Chris stops recording.

 

> **Lucas Krapf ✓** 3 days ago
> 
> We stan Ms Brown and all the bullshit she went through! A real American hero!
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> **MrsCovinsky** 2 days ago
> 
> LJ x books is the true, understated relationship in this squad, like if you stan
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> **Bram Greenfeld’s #1** Fan 3 days ago
> 
> find yourself a boy who brings you back to his high school just so you can have A Moment TM on Lovers’ Corner with him
> 
> **View 31 replies v**

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to kudos and comment if you want the 'boyfriend does my makeup' video, and to subscribe and ring that bell to make sure you don't miss the next instalment!
> 
> Also, Peter and LJ are planning a Q&A so drop your questions in the comments and maybe they'll answer them!


End file.
